Michael Douglas wants American actors to toughen up and get off of social media.
While speaking out about a “crisis in young American actors right now,” the “Ant-Man” star told The Independent, “Everyone’s much more image conscious than they are about actually playing the part.
“There’s something going on with young American actors — both men and women — because the Brits and Australians are taking many of the best American roles from them,” the 70-year-old actor with two Oscars under his belt said in the interview published on Wednesday.
“Clearly, it breaks down on two fronts: In Britain they take their training seriously, while in the States we’re going through a sort of social media image conscious thing rather than formal training,” he continued. “Many actors are getting caught up in this image thing which is going on to affect their range.”
“With the Aussies, particularly with the males, it’s the masculinity. In the U.S., we have this relatively asexual or unisex area with sensitive young men, and we don’t have many Channing Tatums or Chris Pratts, while the Aussies do,” Douglas said. “It’s a phenomena.”
“Ant-Man,” in which Douglas plays a mentor to star superhero Paul Rudd, crawls into theaters on July 17.